Der Blogger

"Enough is enough!" "This can't go on!" "This has to stop!" These were among the comments that came through the blizzard of commentary after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County. We have heard these words before.

Wanderlust

As a travel destination, Germany has never been more popular. With tourist numbers forecast to rise for an eighth consecutive year, what is the country doing right to account for its thriving visitor numbers?

Akademia

For education experts, English language lessons have proven valuable in primary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia. But the Alternative for Germany’s state parliamentary group in NRW have a rather different view.

Essen & Trinken

Police in the city of Osnabrück had to clear crowds in front of a new döner kebab shop on Tuesday, after about 150 hungry people packed the street outside, eager to get their hands on a döner for only €0.01.

Germericana

Many Americans have German ancestors — and that's also the case for actress Meghan Markle, who will be marrying Prince Harry, himself a descendant of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a German dynasty.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) agreed with their conservative CSU Bavarian allies on Sunday to limit to 200,000 the number of people Germany would accept per year on humanitarian grounds.

It was part of Merkel’s drive to get the sister party on board so that she can start talks with the Greens and Free Democrats (FPD) on forming a “Jamaica” coalition — named for the black, green and yellow colors of the three blocs, which match the Caribbean island’s flag.

“We achieved a joint result which I think is a very, very good basis to go into exploratory talks with the FDP and Greens,” Merkel told a joint news conference with her Bavarian counterpart Horst Seehofer on Monday.

But underlying the difficulties in forging a coalition, the Greens said they disagreed with the migrant limit.

It would not stop a coalition being discussed, Green co-leader Cem Özdemir said, but stressed it would not be part of the formal coalition agreement if one is reached.

FDP leader Christian Lindner said the deal cleared the way for coalition talks to begin, but predicted more wrangling about immigration and other issues.

“Immigration is not the only issue where the parties have different ideas,” he told the Passauer Neue Presse newspaper.

Photo: Merkel with CSU chief Horst Seehofer

Merkel said her conservative bloc would begin exploratory talks next week on forming a coalition — first with the FDP and Greens separately on Oct. 18, and then in a three-way format on Oct. 20.

In an interview with the Passauer Neue Presse, CSU chief Seehofer called for brisk negotiations with an eye to completing the talks by year-end.

He urged party members to stop calling for his resignation, saying the discussion could weaken the party’s negotiating stance in the coalition talks. The party leadership issue is to be addressed at a CSU congress in mid-November.

Jamaica coalition only realistic option

The three-way tie-up is untested at national level but it is Merkel’s only realistic option of forming a government as the center-left Social Democrats — her previous coalition partners — insist they want to go into opposition.

Özdemir dismissed the migrant limit as an internal CDU-CSU matter.

“It definitely won’t appear in a possible coalition agreement,” he said, adding the pro-migrant Greens wanted quick and fair processes for newcomers to Germany, effective integration measures and an immigration law with clear rules and criteria.

The Greens reject a cap on migrant arrivals that the Bavarian CSU has been advocating. Germany saw an influx of 890,000 migrants in 2015 and 280,000 in 2016, many of them entering the country via Bavaria.

Although arrivals are expected to drop further this year, the issue is expected to set sparks flying between the CSU and Greens in coalition talks.

Merkel said the limit of 200,000 migrants per year did not mean the 200,001st refugee to arrive would be deported but rather he or she would have the right for his or her case to be individually considered. A package of measures would, however, ensure that the limit is not breached, she added.

Merkel and Seehofer stressed that the government and lower house of parliament could change the rules to allow more or fewer people into Germany if the national or international situation changed unexpectedly such as if a war were to break out of if there were rising unemployment in Germany.

Seehofer said it would be mandatory for parliament to have a say on the adjustments.

But Merkel said even if there were adjustments there would not be a repeat of the 2015 migrant influx because of factors such as the migrant deal between the European Union and Turkey, partnerships with Africa and the expanded remit of the EU’s border control agency Frontex.

She said asylum applications for newcomers would be processed in centers where decisions can also be made to deport them because it had proved difficult to deport rejected asylum seekers once they had been distributed to towns.

Despite his opposition to the conservative deal, Özdemir advocated beginning talks: “We all need to just get started now,” he said on ZDF television.

Kultur

The German term "Heimat," often translated as "homeland," was long thought of as tacky, regressive, and even politically dubious. But since the election, German politicians across the spectrum are using it once again.

Das Kino

This month's Berlin film festival, Europe's first major cinema showcase in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein revelations, will shine a light on sexual misconduct in the industry, its director said on Tuesday.

Gesundheit

In the run-up to international World Cancer Day on Sunday, experts have said that about half of all cancer cases in Germany could be prevented by a healthier lifestyle. Across the country, around 500,000 people are diagnosed with cancer each year. But experts say things like exercise could cut this figure in half. “Movement can […]